Pentax, Olympus unveils AA-powered cameras

Two new super-zoom cameras were recently announced by Pentax and Olympus. Both cameras, the Olympus Stylus and Pentax X-5, are also powered by those regular double-A type battries.

First up is the Olympus Stylus (SP-820UZ iHS) which features 14MP CMOS sensor and TruePic V processor which enables user to capture DSLR-like quality images and record Full HD videos. Moreover, it’s also capable of recording High-speed clips at 240fps and burst shooting mode which is rated at 3fps. The frame rate increases as the MP count decrease which can go up to 30fps at 3MP.

The camera is paired with an equally capable 22.4 – 896mm, f3.4/f5.7, ultra wide angle lens with 40x Optical zoom functionality and 80x Resolution Zoom (Digital Zoom). The Olympus Stylus (SP-820UZ iHS) is pegged at $329.99 and will be launched this September.

Next in line is Pentax’s entry to the superzoom digicam department — the X-5. Although not as powerful as the aforementioned camera, it has some tricks up it sleeves to gain edge over its competition. It sports a 16MP backlit CMOS sensor with primary color filter which is also capable of recording Full HD clips. As for its lens, the Pentax X-5 is equipped with 22.3 – 580mm smc Pentax zoom lens with a combined zoom of up to 187.2x (26x Optical zoom + 7.2x Digital Zoom).

This camera is also equipped with a built-in Electronic Viewfinder (approximately 230k dots) and a tilting 3” LCD screen (460K dots), features which are missing in the Olympus Stylus. Another thing that’s going for the Pentax X-5 is its SRP which is pegged at only USD280. This camera will also be launched next month along with the Olympus Stylus.
As mentioned earlier, both of these cameras make use of 4 AA batteries for power. So the amount of time a user can spend with these cameras varies from the type of the battery used and the camera features they use.

It’s interesting to see how imaging companies resort to using traditional batteries than battery packs. In our opinion, it’s a way for manufacturers to cut the production cost and bring a more affordable but highly capable camera. The question is will they get the buy-in of the consumers with their AA-powered cameras as opposed to a camera that has a battery back. We suppose only time will tell, but it’s always good to have options.